Treating composite strands



Nov. 2, 1937. H. D. TRACY TREATING COMPOSITE STRANDS Fil ed Jan. 21,"1937 4 Sheets-Sheet l R Y E W W m c o m W T A D V v Iv m a w 7 R Nov.2, 1937.

D. TRACY TREATING COMPOSITE STRANDS Filed Jan. 21, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR, l/omerD Trac BY ATTORNEY Nov.-2, 1937. v H, Q RACY 2,097,540

TREATING COMPOSITE STRA N DS Filed Jan. 21, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR, flam w I. y-

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 2, 1937. H, D, A 2,097,540

I TREATING COMPOSITE STRANDS Filed Jan. 21, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 4INVENTOR, f/omarD Tracy,

ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 2, 1937 TREATING COMPOSITE STRANDS Homer D. Tracy,Ridgewood, N. J., assignor to The Linen) Thread Co. Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Application January zl 1937, Serial No.121,399

7 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of twine, thread, cord and thelike from long-fiber.

material, as best fibers of jute, hemp, flax and the like.

After softening jute and subjecting it to the action of a breaker cardthe resulting sliver,=according to the prevailing practice, undergoesthe following treatments: It is subjected toa number of drawingoperations in drawing machines by which the sliver is drawn out orextended, involving longitudinal displacement of its fibers relativelyto each other, and in one or more of these operations it is usuallydoubled with another sliver or slivers with the purpose of providing asliver as uniform in structure as possible upon completion of thedrawing treatment. sliver resulting from the final drawing is depositedin a can which is then conveyed to a roving machine; as it issues fromthe final drawing the sliver is left having tensile strength which issuflicient for undergoing such depositing and also for its subsequentwithdrawal from the can. In the roving machine it undergoes furtherdrawing (to wit, to a size suitable for the next or spinning step) and,to offset the frailty or weakness it would otherwise now have, making ittroublesome to spin it, it is given a slight twist, and issimultaneously wound on a bobbin. If, on the final drawing, it weredrawn fine enough for spinning .it would lack the tensile strengthnecessary to insure its beingcontinuously pulled and hence lifted fromthe can without disruption thereof. There is usually a large number ofbobbins to a roving frame. When the bobbins of such frame havefall beenfilled with the roves or slightly twisted slivers theyv are con-' veyedto a spinning machine, being placed on a creel therein, and from themthe slivers pass to the spinning operation. I V I I 1 It is obvious thatthe rovingstep not only de-, lays the procedure but that considerablepower is required for operation of the roving machine; for these reasonsand also on account of the large amount of labor required to transferthe bobbins from the roving to the spinning. machine, it is manifestlydesirable to eliminate the roving step altogether and if possible conveythe slivers from the drawing directly to the spinning machine, as in thecans into which they are delivered by the latter machine and each ofwhich has a capacity equal to a considerable number of bobbins.

By this invention it is found possible to eliminate the roving step, theslivers being taken directly from the masses thereof, as in the cans, tothe spinning machine. Thus: Each sliver is as! Such sumed to be alreadydrawn to a state in which,

as so merely drawn, it is too weak to withstand continuously the strainimposed thereon when it is pulled upwardly from the sliver mass orindeed the can. Therefore it is torsioned at .a point at orapproximately at the upper terminus of the course of its upward traveland relatively to the mass and thereby twisted from the point of suchtorsioning toward the mass, or backward, and to a degree suflicient toprevent disruption of the portion of the sliver at any time, within suchcourse. I

My method does not create in the sliver or its constituent filamentsanything objectionable as more or less perman'ent'bends, since the'twist therein need not'be more tightlyieifected than inarovingoperation. In fact, the method hasthis advantage over forming thesliver into a rove that in the latter case the rove comes to thespinningmachine with a twist which hasto be eliminated, at least ifgill-spinning is resorted to, whereas according to my inventionthe twistthat is de-' veloped in the sliver anterior to the point at which thetorsion is applied will be eliminated, so that the sliver will come tothe means, as retaining rolls, first encountered therebyin the spinningI machine in substantially the same untwisted state in which it existsas delivered, drawn, to the can. r j

As will appear, the twisting of the sliver in the.

indicated course may be accompanied by an in; termittent pulling of .thesliver .from the can,; which has the advantage of loosening the sliverfrom the mass thereof in the can in case it should tend not to pay offwith the desired freedom from suchmass. I I 1' Usually, in the spinningmachine there is provision for effecting drawing of the sliver justprior to actual spinning, as by the use of retaining and drawing rolls.My inventiorr further contemplates maintaining a twist in the sliverbetween the media (as such retaining and drawing rolls) by which thedrawing of the sliver is effected, which involvesthis further advantage,that drawing takes place with the sliver in a compacted state, with aconsequently more uniform displacement of the fibers longitudinally.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a vertical front-to-rear sectional view of one type ofspinning machine with the cans, illustrating the invention; f

Fig. 2 is a similar view, though partly in elevation, of another type ofspinning machine with the cans, illustrating the invention; 1

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portionof what the corresponding massthereof.

is shown in Fig. 2, being also a vertical front-torear sectional viewand showing certain parts like those in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the system of elements whereby theslivers are subjected to torsion; and

Fig. 5 a diagram illustrative of a feature of the invention. i

In Fig. l the invention is shown applied to plain spinning. That is, Idesignates any suitable and well known type of spinning unit arranged inthe frame 2 of the machine and with merely retaining rolls 3 and drawingrolls 4 operating on the sliver next before the actual spinning effectedby said spinning unit." 5 designates cans containing the sliver massesdelivered thereto (by the last drawing machine) and from which theslivers are respectively supplied'to spinning units such as l by theadvancing action of the retaining and drawing rolls, such slivers havingthe size required for introduction to the spinning machine. 6 designatessliver guides arranged on the frame respectively over the cans. On therail 2a of the frame 2, to wit, at an elevation above the tops of thecans and here also approximating that of the retaining rolls 2, isarranged the means for applying torsion to the slivers and for directingeach sliver in a upward course from The zone in which disruption is mostlikely to ensue may here be taken as extending from said means to guide6, which means takes the following form in the present example (seeFigs. 3 and 4).

A housing, comprising front and'rear sections 1 and 8, is afiixed to theframe by arms 8a on the rear section, the two sections'having ahorizontal series of opposed bearing openings 9' in whichare to bejournaled the elements which are to apply torsion to the slivers. Eachsuch element includes a gear l0 having hubs lfl'a journaled in theopenings 9 and an axial bore lllb, theseveral gears meshing with eachother. The several elements rotate in an upright plane and each includesan arm H which projects from the rear face of the gear-hub at about a 45angle, the arm having a bent-off extension I la by which it is securedto said hub. Each element also includes a tubular sliver-guide l2 fastin the end of the arm at angle of thereto. Each sliver a extends fromits guide 6 up and through the guide l2 for such sliver, is then benttoward the bore lllb, and is then again bent to pass through the bore toand between the retaining and drawing rolls and finally to the spinningunit. The train of elements'may be driven by a worm I3 on a shaft l4suitably journaled in a bearing 15 on the frame and driven, as throughgearing l6,

from some suitably rotated shaft'll of the machine. V

As each sliver travels from the sliver mass in its'can to thecorresponding spinning unit the constantly rotated and above describedelement forapplying torsion to the sliver maintains a twist in thesliver which usually extends down from said element past the guide 6 tothe sliver mass in the can, which twist gives the necessary addedstrength'to the part of the sliver at any time affected thereby, to wit,to enable the sliver,

though otherwise too weak for the purpose, continuously to be pulledfrom the can. The action of each torsion element is as follows: Itcarries the part of the sliver at any time contained in its guide aroundin the orbit of such guide, which of course would not be responsible forthe twisting if the sliver were free of the guide in. the

sense that the guide, in its orbital movement, rotated relatively to thesaid part of the sliver. But said part of the sliver is confined to theguide so that incident to each complete orbital movement it alsoundergoes some if not complete ro-' tation around its own axis. Thisconfining is not due to any appreciable all-around constricting of thesliver by the guide, which would possibly result in disruption of thesliver, but togthe friction existing between the two and incident to thementioned bends which it maintains therein. Of course I do not wish tobe limited to this particular form of torsion element, but it has theadvantage indicated that, on account of the orbital movement of theentrance to its guide, it

.causes intermittent displacement of the sliver and so tends to loosenit from the mass thereof in the can.

When any given point in the twisted portion of a sliver attains thetorsion element the latter acts at that point to untwist, wherefore thesliver may assume a flat form for contact 'with'the' re-' taining rolls,or it may be some'such guide as I B in Fig. 2. See Fig. 5, where it willbe evident that when the volute at point'x, there developed righthand,attains the torsion element the latter will tend to develop itleft-hand, or untwist it. In practice, and as shown by Fig. 3, the twistat'the anterior side of the torsion element may"spill over or carry intoand somewhat beyond said element, for which purpose said element andtheelement in contact with which the sliver is next, to pass in flat formare su'itably spaced. "Fig.1 5 is present to show'the tendency 'of,thetorsiori element to double twist, as right-hand at the left andleft-hand at the right, which would be the result if the sliver werenot. moving as per the arrow. But once the sliver is in motion the twistat theleft progressively is dissipated, as "ex: plained.

In Fig. 1 is shown atorsion element l9, being a worm-gear journaled in afixed housing Ml and driven by a suitably driven worm 2|, the gearhaving a bore l9a oblique to and crossing its axis and being arrangedbetween the retaining and drawing rolls. This, when in rotation, alsoforms a twist anterior to it and actsto'dissipate such twistprogressively as already described. The result here is to compact andthus strengthen the portion of the sliver undergoing draft. The torsionelement is here placed sufficiently 'close to the drawing rolls so thatthe fibers, not so strengthened between said element anddrawing rolls,may bridge the interventing gap, thus to in-,

sure against parting of the sliver in thatSpace.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the constructionis all essen tially the same as inFig.1 excepting that here the sliver, in passing from the retaining tothe drawing rolls, is acted on" by gill mechanism l9; which maybe of anystandard construction and needs no description here. In such a case thesliver would also come to the gill mechanism without twist, asis'necessary, as explained When a sliver is formed into a rove' anyfiber ends that might otherwise project fro'mits selvage (others thatmight so project become more or less impacted into the sliver by thepressure the sliver undergoes before it is actually spun) are more orless bound in, or held unproj ecting, by the twisting effected to formthe rove. Ac; cording to this invention fibers which might otherwise beleft projecting from the selvage ,of the sliver as it comes from thelast drawing become pressed into and hence bound in' the sliver by thepressure, with more or less torsion present, which the sliver undergoesin passing through the torsion element.

In the case where, as usual, a portion of the slivers course is in anupward direction the tersion element forms a guide up to which thesliver travels and through which (viz, the passage of guide l2 and thebore lob) it is reeved, so that a part of the sliver is always pendantfrom such guide.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is:

1. The method of converting a sliver into a spun product which consistsin drawing the sliver to a state in which it is too weak continously towithstand the strain imposed thereon when it is pulled in an upwarddirection, depositing the thus-drawn sliver in a mass, pulling thethusdrawn sliver from such mass and spinning it and in so pulling thesliver directing it from said mass in an upwardly reaching course, andmeanwhile continually twisting the portion of the sliver at any time insuch course to a degree sufiicient to prevent disruption of suchportion.

2. The method of converting a sliver into a spun product which consistsin drawing the sliver to a state in which it is too weak continuously towithstand the strain imposed thereon when it is pulled in an upwarddirection, depositing the thus-drawn sliver in a mass, pulling thethusdrawn sliver from such mass and spinning it and in so pulling thesliver directing it from said mass in an upwardly reaching course, andmeanwhile continually torsioning the sliver at a point approximating theupper terminus of such course and relatively to the mass and therebytwisting the sliver from such point toward the mass and to a degreesufiicient to prevent disruption of the portion of the sliver at anytime within said course.

3. The method of converting a sliver into a spun product which consistsin drawing the sliver to a state in which it is too weak' continuouslyto withstand the strain imposed thereon when it is pulled in an upwarddirection, depositing the thus-drawn sliver in a mass, pullingthethusdrawn sliver from such mass and spinning it and in so pulling thesliver directing it from said mass in an upwardly reaching course, andmeanwhile continually twisting the portion of the sliver at any time insuch course to a degree sufficient to prevent disruption of such portionand also exerting intermittent pulls on the sliver in a direction fromthe mass;

4. In combination, with a machine for exerting pulling efiort on andforming into a spun product a sliver drawn to a state too weak, asmerely so drawn, to withstand as to a portion thereof at any time inpendant state the strain thereon, constantly rotatingsliver guidingmeansup to and through which the sliver travels and from which a portionthereof exists in pendant state, said means having a sliver guide whoseentrance is eccentric to the axis of rotation of said means..-

5. In combination, With .a machine for exerting pulling effort on andforming into a spun product a sliver drawn to a state too Weak, asmerely so drawn, to withstand as to a portion thereof at any time inpendant state the strain thereon, constantly rotating sliver guidingmeans up to and through which the sliver travels and from which aportion thereof exists in pendant state, said means having its axisextending laterally with respect to said portion of the sliver and asliver guide whose entrance is eccentric of the axis of said means.

6. The combination set forth in claim 4 characterized by said guidingmeans being also a sliver torsion means.

'7. The combination set forth in claim 5 characterized by said guidingmeans being also a sliver torsion means.

HOMER D. TRACY.

